There is a snopes-confirmed apocryphal story that former US President George W. Bush commented to then British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the problem with the French "… is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur". As much as I would like to think it's true, it happens not to be.
However, that's doesn't stop us from having fun with a bit of word-play. I would like to come up with as many of these as possible, and I am looking for donations: How many "The X can't Y: they have no word for Z" are there out there? I'd say there're thousands. I'm going to kick it off here, and anyone who wants to leave a sample or a few, please do so as comments, and I'll add them to the post.
If you want credit, send me an e-mail at the address at the bottom of this post. Rules are:
- The format should be "The X can't Y: they have no Z" or "The X don't know how to Y: they have no word for Z", or something equally simple.
- Any non-english-speaking nationality can be referenced, but the word used for Z must be in common use in English
- If I gather 1000 or more, I'll see if a publisher can't be persuaded to publish the list in a book. At the moment, I am thinking of having the proceeds donated to a charitable organisation.
- I'm the arbiter of these rules
- I can add or change rules at any time.
The list
- Éibhear, 2009-08-30 – The French can't arrange meetings: they have no word for rendezvous.
- Éibhear, 2009-08-30 – The French can't have meals out: they have no word for restaurant.
- Éibhear, 2009-08-30 – The Czechs can't make mechanical men: they have no word for robot.
For anyone who wants credit other than their name on the list, please send me an e-mail, and I will take note of it. My address is: REDACTED
You can't add any comments to this post. If there is something you would like to bring to my attention, please use the contact mechanisms below to get in touch.